Blackberry has announced that it has entered into an agreement with Fairfax financial, their largest shareholder, to take the company private. Trading of the companies shares were suspended today and the evaluation on the deal is $4.7 billion. Pending due diligence that’s expected to be completed by November 4th, the deal would see BlackBerry go private, with shareholders each receiving $9 per share in cash.
In a statement, Fairfax Chairman and CEO Prem Watsa said, “We believe this transaction will open an exciting new private chapter for BlackBerry, its customers, carriers, and employees,” adding, “we can deliver immediate value to shareholders while we continue the execution of a long-term strategy in a private company with a focus on delivering superior and secure enterprise solutions to BlackBerry customers around the world.”
If the sale goes through, you can expect Blackberry to focus once more on the business and enterprise segment. Appealing to the corporate and government sectors as always been their bread and butter. They have lost sight of this market in trying to have a broad commercial appeal with their latest generation of Blackberry 10 devices.
Recently Blackberry announced a $950 million dollar loss and has announced that they are laying off 4500 people by the end of the year.
Michael Kozlowski is the editor-in-chief at Good e-Reader and has written about audiobooks and e-readers for the past fifteen years. Newspapers and websites such as the CBC, CNET, Engadget, Huffington Post and the New York Times have picked up his articles. He Lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.
